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Victor VI

RARITY: ¤¤   VALUE:  ¤¤¤¤

The Victor VI was the "premium" model in Victor's early product lineup.  It was introduced at the end of 1904 at the time when Victor began using Roman numeral designations for their machines, replacing the confusing and overlapping letter designations for different models. Unlike the other "Roman Numeral" model Victors, the Victor VI did not have a similar "predecessor" product. It was a totally new design, launched when the company was still recovering from a massive fire in April of that year which destroyed much of their production capacity. It was obviously intended to appeal to wealthy buyers who could afford an exceptional phonograph. And in 1904, that elite group of buyers was growing rapidly.
The Victor VI was one of the best-performing machines that the company offered (a position shared with the less-expensive Victor V). This was due to the fact that the very large round horn provided a much less constricted and direct acoustic path than did any of the later-vintage internal-horn Victrola models; not until the Orthophonic machines appeared in 1925 did any Victor machine provide the level of clarity and volume that could be achieved with the Victor V or VI. Due to its elegant design and exceptional performance, Victor VI's are prized by collectors today.
The Victor VI featured a full-size 12-inch turntable and an exceptional triple-spring motor and Tapered Arm configuration. The massive mahogany cabinet with gold "cornices" and hardware was very impressive. The VI was originally sold with a black paper-mache horn; however, this was soon replaced with a large brass horn. Buyers could also opt for several different variations of wood horns for a few dollars more. The VI sold new for $100.00, which equates to approximately $3,400.00 in today's money.  Numerous improvements to the motor and controls were made in the following years. The picture at left shows a Victor VI with the optional Spearpoint wood horn.
The Victor VI was discontinued from production in 1917, although many likely remained unsold in inventory, and continued to be offered by retail dealers up into the early 1920's
Exact production numbers for the Victor VI are unknown; there is some controversy on this topic, but based on serial numbers of surviving examples, at least 17,000 units were made, and probably a lot more. Victor VI's with serial numbers as high as 49,000 have been reported but are not confirmed. The factory records state that about 18,000 were made, but this data may not be reliable since the serial number "resets" may not have been taken into consideration. Based on surviving examples, it is likely that far more were actually produced.
At present, there is not a good correlation between serial number and production date for this model. Serial numbers were probably reset back to "1" at least once during the production run, making accurate dating of these models very difficult; there are likely duplicates with the same serial number. In addtion, there appears to have been a large 'skip' in serial numbers between 14,000 and 20,000; examples with serial numbers above 20,000 may have been intended for export.

There is not currently a reliable correlation estimate between serial number and production dates for this model, but the following guidelines will apply:
-  Victor VI models without a suffix letter after the serial number were likely made prior to 1912.
-  Examples with an "A" suffix were produced after 1912.
 - The earliest Victor VI models will be designated (on the dataplate) as "Type 6" or "Type No. 6"
-  The next subsequent group is designated (on the dataplate) as "Type Vic VI"
-  The final (latest production) group is designated (on the dataplate) as "Type V-VI"
-   Note that serial numbers may have been reset or large blocks were skipped-over with some or all of the designation changes noted above.

The current survival database shows the earliest existent Victor VI to be S/N 129 and the latest to be S/N 49319. (Be aware that serial numbers were reset at least once during the production run and that a large block of serial numbers was skipped)

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